The refurbishment of the former Sustenance restaurant is underway in the Market Place. The restaurant bar closed earlier this year after the illness of co-owner Vince Ryan. But Marwan and Suzanne Hemchaoui, the Whitchurch couple who own the Square Bar and Grill, are refitting the place, and will call it Le Petit Square to capture the theatre crowd.

Developers queue up for contract

Plans to redevelop yet more of Newbury town centre is to get underway this month. West Berkshire Council has drafted a brief to flatten the bus station, and build flats and shops – along with sculptures on a piazza – in Market Street. Interested developers will be sent the brief later this month, before the council shortlists for the lucrative contract.

Bank holiday crime round-up

Overnight last Thursday, a mountain bike was stolen from a garden in Curling Way, Turnpike. Also in the early hours, thieves stole a jacket and wallet after the owner of a house in Rectory Close left the door unlocked. On Friday evening, thieves smashed the window of a Volvo parking in St Bartholomew’s School campus in Buckingham Road and stole cards and £60 cash. Vandals daubed graffiti on a camper van parked in Austen Gardens, the Nightingales, early on Sunday morning.

Allergy test

Newbury drugs firm Bayer has developed a new allergy test kit that detects allergies in just 47 minutes. The breakthrough product is being sent to laboratories across the country to cope with the summer peak of allergies ranging from wasp stings to kiwi fruit. The number of people with allergies has almost trebled since 1985.

Flower show

Enborne and Hamstead Marshall Garden Society are hosting their annual flower show and fete this weekend. The popular event starts at 2pm on Saturday, in the paddock opposite Enborne School, Wheatlands Lane.